you can do. >> they have no natural predators. they have came from china and unless we import a bug to eat them what are we going to do? they stink. >> chickens don't like them. >> show you the maps. we had big-time thunderstorms yesterday afternoon. hail reports all of the place. inch size hail in loudoun county and a lot of damage in bowie and 301 and 50. overnight we have cleared out and we are in good shape to start this thursday. the temperature is 74 here in town. a lot of 80s. still low 70s a summer-like morning on the first full day of autumn. temperatures by 9:00, 70s. 5:00 90 and an isolated storm but less activity than

yesterday. hi. hello, hello. hope everybody is off to a great start. it is thursday morning and right now, as andrea mentioned, one thing we are watching is debris in the roadways out here in the silver spring area. it is viers mill road and it is taking away the right lane for drivers. moving to the outer loop, we want to show you that drivers are moving at speed to georgia avenue. back to the maps, route 4, route 5, and 301, everyone is all clear. 95 northbound, no complaints making your way from the beltway to the 14th street bridge, and before that we are incidents or accidents free out of fredericksburg to the mixing bowl. over to you. today we may learn who will or for that matter who will not leave the dc public school system. a highly anticipated sit down between vincent gray and rhee is set to take place.

the two will meet at noon at gray's office at the wilson building. rhee has made it clear she doesn't think she can work in a gray administration. she backed mayor fenty in the election. tonight teresa lewis will be the first woman put to death in a half decade and the first in virginia in almost a century. bruce leshan spoke to her attorney who said she exhausted her appeals. >> from death row she sings for help from above ♪ i need a miracle ♪ >> reporter: but the one man on earth who could save her life has turned her down twice. >> i will tell the governor, if i speak to him one on one, how sorry i really am. what i want to happen. i wish i could take it back. >> reporter: theresa lewis pleaded guilty to plotting the murders of her husband and stepson for their life

insurance but while the judge sentenced two men to life, he handed lewis a death sentence, saying she was clearly the head of the serpent. we talked to her lawyer as he drove to death row to be with her in her final hours. >> i think it is grossly unfair to have the triggermen receive life while she receives the harshest penalty. with an iq that puts her close to mental retardation they say she is no mastermind. >> i can say she is as evil of a person as i have ever met. >> reporter: her step daughter where witness her execution. she did the crime, she says and now she will have to pay for it. >> teresa lewis has chosen her

last meal, two fried chicken breast, wait sweet peas with butter, german chocolate cake and dr. pepper. the judge ruled that the comments to court officials would be inflammatory. he said he cannot control himself when he sees someone in a secluded area with something of value. he has plead not guilty in levy's death. house republicans will roll out a new campaign agenda today less than six weeks before the midterm elections them plan called the pledge to america focuses on the government, economy, spending and health care. officials will unveil it at a hardware and building supply store in sterling, virginia. democrats dismissed the strategy as recycled gop ideas such as tax cuts and improved border security. ideas they say would make the

challenges worse. president obama is set to address the united nations general assembly this morning. wednesday, the president spoke to world leaders at a u.n. antipoverty summit. a new book about president obama portrays a national security team deeply divide over the war in afghanistan. manuel gallegus reports on the journalist that he dug up for his latest look inside of the white house. president obama pushes for a way out of afghanistan in the pages of a new book. he chronicles behind the scenes battle between the administration and its military leaders over the war. watergate journalist bob woodward has had access to presidents for decades and interviewed president obama for obama's wars. he tells his secretary of state and defense i'm not doing ten years or long-termination

building, i'm not spending a trillion dollars when he agrees to add 30,000 troops in a short- term escalation the pentagon asks for 4500. prompting the president to erupt i'm done doing this. historians see president obama falling in to the struggle of his predecessors during vietnam. >> lyndon johnson recognized the quandary he was in. but they all tried to muddle through, rather than taking the politically risky, but historically correct decision of getting out. >> the united states does not quit once it starts on something. >> reporter: according to woodward, president obama knows what happened in the past, but doesn't see a clear path out of afghanistan. >> can't seem to find an answer here and he knows it is undermining everything that he wants to do at home. >> reporter: president obama did tell woodward he doesn't think of the war in terms of winning or losing.

hoe is focused on a strategy that leave afghanistan stronger when the troops come home. manuel gallegus, tbs cruz. >> the debates in the book are well known and insists he comes off as a commander in chief that is analytical, strategic and decisive. the book hits store shelves next week. a navy soldier killed in afghanistan. he lived in silver spring and graduated in 1999. at dematha. he was a standout athlete and his former coach says he lived up to the school's motto, a gentleman and a scholar. >> more so than a hero, a great human being. you know, everything that it would want your son to be. in 2004 he became an officer and later a navy seal.

he was among the nine killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan this week. after five days of gains, wall street slows down. independent audit finds millions of dollars in unused transportation funds. we'll be right back. ♪

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it's time for the first "living $mart" report of the morning. jessica doyle is here with the headlines. another day for investors to focus on the economy. this morning we are getting readings on the job market, housing and the direction of the overall economy. wall street, the rally took a breather. the dow fell 28 points in trading yesterday. it stands this morning at 10739. the nasdaq dropped by 15 an the s&p 500 was off by a .5. we could learn today that virginia has hundreds of millions of dollars lying around that it doesn't know about. money that could fund transportation projects. the "washington post" reports

that governor mcdonnell is expected to announce the findings of the new audit of the virginia department of transportation. sources say the audit may have uncovered hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent funds in several accounts and up to a billion dollars. the findings are made more significant because virginia struggled for years to find road and transit funds. the washington examiner reports that the montgomery county police department spent federal money on software that didn't work and never tested the software before paying for it. the chief wrote in a memo that after spending two years trying to fix the program the police had no confidence in the software. it was delivered by arch bridge consulting and training. the campaign maintaining the software said it did exactly what it was intended to do. for more "living $mart" headlines, log on to wusa9.com and click on the "living $mart" tab on the front page.

key sections of the health care reform bill go in to affect today. an an effort to clean up the anacostia river and raise money for the district appears to be paying off. it is 74 degrees and you are watching 9 news now.

welcome back. the five cent tax on plastic bags in the district appears to be doing its job. it took effect this year and it is designed to keep the bags out of rivers and fund an anacostia cleanup and it's having a big impact. last year dc shoppers used 270 million disposable bags. the number is down by 60% this year. >> 60? >> 60. >> that's huge. >> that's huge. that's what it says. >> keeping the river clean. >> the number of 90 degrees days, wasn't just 90 but 95

yesterday. back in april and may we had a total of five. june and july a total of 39. august and september, another 20. giving us a grand total of 64. we are three shy of the record and we have today and tomorrow to get in to the 90s. that will get us to 66. oh, 67 will be hard pressed. that's okay. we don't need the record but we are making a run at it nonetheless. the momslikeme.com bus stop forecast, mainly clear, a patch or two of fog in the mountains. 60s and 70s. the sunrise 56. mid 70s by 9:00. and 90ish for the drive home. winds from the south at five to ten and air quality is code yellow. as far as the records for today, tie the record at 94 at dulles yesterday. 93 is today's record. that could go but 98 is safe in dc. same with martinsburg at 101 and tonight it will be a partly

cloudy night. patchy fog late. bye, there is a chance of a storm this afternoon but rain chances today will be less than yesterday. so while we had widespread thunderstorms with some damage across loudoun county and in anne arundel county and prince georges county, today, just a couple of storms here and there. tonight, 60s to low 70s with a south wind at 5:00 and tomorrow is another very hot day. i don't think we will see storms with record heat possible. i think tomorrow is the hottest day we will see. 92 to 97 with southwest winds 10 to 15 and that is 15 to 20 above the seasonal averages. here's the storms from last night. they are out to our east. to the west this morning it is quiet. although a few showers in ohio and pennsylvania. if you are doing any traveling up there you may run in to them. readings to the north in the 60s with a touch or two of fog and we are in -- in the low to

mid-70s. 64 manassas, leesburg, haymarket, 67 sterling, 67 rockville. columbia 66. i think some of these guys were affected by the storms yesterday. we will get them on-line in another day or so. andrews 66 and 68 brandywine. national 74. clear skies, light winds and a dew.in the upper 60s. it does not feel like fall out there. until we get a front to push through by friday night or saturday it won't. fronts to the north now. more showers and storms across wisconsin and minnesota. we are south of the boundary. so the warm air is in place. that's not going to change much but at 5:00 this afternoon, notice a couple of storms are popping here. they will die down after sunset. tomorrow, it will until the way of a trigger. so expect it to be hot and sunny host of the day. by 7:00 here's the thunderstorms ahead of the cold front from buffalo, cincinnati and that front will get close

to us as we head to saturday morning with showers and storms west virginia south. this will probably come through with only a shower or two late on friday night, early saturday. that should set us up for a decent day on saturday. another scorcher today. especially this time of the year. 29 in town. manassas, leesburg. petersburg and frederick could be 95. tappahannock, cooler by the bay. water temperatures helping you out big time. easton 88 degrees. tonight in the 60s to low 70s about where we are thissen mooing. things won change until friday night, saturday. in the tropics, not a problem but this may develop in though matthew in the next day or two. this is haiti, dominican republic, south america, central america over to the yucatan in the next couple of days. we will watch that. the seven-day forecast, got the heat. near record heat for today and

tomorrow. saturday 83. should be okay for any evens going on. sunday 76 and could be a couple of showers and cooler weather monday, tuesday and wednesday. it's 4:49. good morning, angie. >> hello, everybody. yeah, creeping closer to the 5:00 hour and right now still dealing with same old problems out in silver spring. 185 southbound at viers mill road. that's where we have debris in the roadway taking away the right lane for drivers. stick with our maps and move you up to 95 and the bw parkway. looks like going southbound we have lingering construction. this should be clearing in the next 1 a minutes or so. 270 southbound, looks like roadwork is set up at montgomery village avenue. if you are heading northbound watch for it at falls. on the inner loop in virginia, let's take you there, everything is here but up on the outer loop we have roadwork near 267 the dulles toll road. to wrap it up w we give you inbound new york avenue.

nice and quiet. incident free. making your way from the times building to florida avenue. back to you. >> thank you, angie. plans to build a bus transit center in langley park got a bit of a boost in the form of an $818,000 federal grant. the transit center will serve bus riders in montgomery cone prince georges county and it is expected to be built at the intersection of university boulevard and new hampshire avenue. maryland is looking for a developer to make the area around in the new car roll on the metro area more liveable. they want to turn 39-acres in to a planned community featuring homes, shops and businesses. a decision on the developer is expected by the end of the year. mass transit advocates say a text message could be the key to saving the country's financially troubled transit system. demonstrators displayed a giant screen with text messages in front of union station on wednesday urging congress to

ship money to mass transit. seven out of ten systems are currently facing budget deficits. looking at the living well headlines, today a new patient bill of rights will take effect six months after the health care reform legislation was signed in to law. president obama spoke about the bill to a group of 20 people in the backyard of a falls church, virginia home. most had benefited from the law. the group included a mother diagnosed with cancer but was able to get new health insurance. the president defended the reforms against those who say it costs too much. >> the single biggest driver of our deficit is the ever escalating cost of health care. it was bankrupting families, companies and our government. >> reporter: among the reforms taking effect today, a ban on maximum lifetime benefits and young adults will be able to stay on their parents ' plan until they turn 26.

researchers have made a big advance for people suffering from multiple sclerosis. the disease causes the body's immune system to turn on itself and attack the brain and spinal cord. as anita brickman tells us there is an oral medication to fight the nerve damage that results. >> reporter: john walks with a cane. >> i now have a lot of numbness in my hand and feet. my balance is very bad. >> reporter: he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis almost 30 years ago. he injects himself once a week with the drug that delays the progress of the disorder. until now all the treatments involved shots but just today the fda approved a new drug taken daily by mouth. it is the first ever pill to treat ms. >> someone comes to me and says i condition stand these injections or i won't take injections any longer they are perfectly suitable to go to the pill. >> reporter: the side effects

could include a slowed heart rate, increased blood pressure or lower resistance townfection. >> there are changes in the back of the eye, in in the retina that have to be monitored and can affect liver function. so we have to watch for those. >> reporter: john will check with his doctor to see if he is handle the side effects and he is certainly ready to try it. >> is an easier way to take it. easier than jabbing yourself with a needle. >> reporter: patients have to check to see if it will be covered by their insurance. >> and it may not be the only ms drug on the market for long. the fda is expected to announce a decision on another oral medication as early as december. for more living well headlines, log on to our website at wusa9.com. and click on our living well tab on the front page. well, pretty soon there will be no need for gamblers to cross the border from the free

state. and making an effort to go green could wind up costing you more green. these stories and more when 9 news now continues. i've got power pain can't mess with.

(announcer) new icy hot power gel. relief that's icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. and no mess. new icy hot power gel. don't mess around with pain. welcome back. gambling enthusiast just get ready a new slot parlor is opening the end of the monday. their they are opening a 1500 machine center in perryville. it is -- 70-miles from the dc beltway. a charity night is scheduled for this weekend. coldwell banker released the annual list of the most

expensive and affordable housing markets in the u.s. the costliest city is newport beach, california. the average home costs $1.8 million. the least expensive is detroit where the same home would cost $68,000. in our home the most expensive city to buy a home is alexandria where the average is 7305. and the least is $165,000 in lynchburg. in maryland the most expensive is bethesda. the at least expensive hagerstown. and the average home in the district costs about $539,000. and people in arlington may have to shell out extra cash to build or renovate their highway patrols. the county is looking at recommendations to improve energy efficiency.

lindsey mastis opening the books on a new home where people have paid a lot of green to stay green. >> this 5,000 square foot house is the home of the future at least in arlington. it is 45% more energy efficient but comes with a price. >> we spent $40,000 on windows and doors. >> reporter: andrew moore says standard windows would have cost 15 grand. he spent another $6,000 on the solar water heater and $8,000 on water fixtures. $6,000 more. >> there will be less than four cups of water that need to come from the hot water heater to the fixture. >> reporter: in arlington a community energy plan recommends new homes and remodels be 30% more energy efficient starting in 2015. the plan has not been approved, but county board chairman says he hopes building codes change to match those recommendations. >> there's an effort nationally

to improve the building code energy efficiency by 30%. >> 30% is a hard number to get to. >> he says he spent $60,000 for top of the line energy efficient products for the house. >> it is hard to hit it for the new models. it will be more expensive and significantly more. >> reporter: he saved money on recycled carpet. it is $500 less than standard carpet. as standards change and energy efficient is the norm, moore says prices will get more reasonable. in arlington, lindsey mastis, 9 news now. welcome back to 9 news now. thank you for watching us. i'm andrea roane. angie will have the traffic and howard is starting with the forecast. anymore thunder an lightning in the forecast. >> a tiny bit today. yesterday it was rockin' and rollin'. trees down across bowie and anne arundel county had wind